Albus Potter and the Future of Mysteries
by Scorpia Malfoy
Summary: Albus and his new friends have to go back in time to when harry was at school to help stop Voldemort's son from following the footsteps of his father
1. Chapter 1

A flash of light. Then another. They were Pink at first, but as they dimmed, the hue faded into the palest violet and formed a plume of eerie mist above the crumbling, granite grey headstone, creating a swirly, eerily soft column of darkening shadow. Shrieking, muffled by the smoke, echoed around the deserted churchyard. Some feet away, the spine of a giant, spectral dog tingled, starting at the top of its tail and running along to the base of its thin, bony skull. In one fluid movement, it threw back its head and howled, the noise piercing the silence of the night. The resurrection had begun.

As the train rounded the corner, Albus Potter slid open the door of the first glass- doored compartment he came to. This was an extremely bad and unwise decision. He was chased out by a hoard of angry - looking seventh years who had been practicing advanced spell casting and, quite clearly, did not require the presence of a silly little first year. The next time, he was more fortunate about the door he chose to open. As he entered the second compartment, he caught sight of a small boy with mousy brown hair, who was sitting up in the luggage rack, holding his knees up to his chin. A miniscule ginger kitten was asleep beside him on an old, rather battered trunk.

The boy did not seem to realise Albus had entered the apparently empty compartment, so, catching sight of his new acquaintance, Albus cleared his throat softly and hesitantly to make himself noticed. The boy looked down at Albus and grinned nervously 'Hi' he said, straitening up slightly and exclaiming as the train lurched forwards as it picked up speed and nearly dislodging the boy from his precarious perch. Albus was slightly taken aback, because one of the boy's eyes was purple, and the other was hazel brown. Even in the wizarding world, this was not very common, and Albus, being curious, stared into the boy's eyes. He noticed the confused look on Albus's face, and said despairingly

'Oh, not again'. He then shook his head vigorously and screwed up his face, and his eyes both turned a violent shade of acid green. He took out a mirror and examined his newly coloured eyes critically, frowning at his eyes' new hue. 'Close enough.' he sighed wearily, dislodging his cat from the gap between two bars and replacing her on the trunk again. 'My name's Thomas'. He grinned sheepishly, twiddling the aglets on the ends of his shoelaces. 'Sorry about the thing with the eyes. I'm a metamorphmagus, and I can't really control my powers properly yet. My parents thought it would be a good idea to send me to Muggle school when I was younger, and, well, I don't think my teacher appreciated the fact that I couldn't stop my hair turning pink'

Thomas chewed his bottom lip, staring at his shoe. He appeared to be carefully studying the markings on the bottom of the sole. The young boy seemed distant, as if recounting this childhood memory had transported him back in time. Albus wondered vaguely if Thomas had even wanted to come to Hogwarts in the first place, because even himself had felt hesitant about boarding the train and leaving his parents and sister behind all alone in Godric's hollow. His older brother James hadn't cared a bit about how Lily and James Potter had felt when their son had first left home, and had been eager to jump aboard the Hogwarts express and be carried away across the countryside, far away from his family. Albus had been content to stay home and play with his younger sister lily, carefree and only thinking ahead to what would be for supper, or messing about in the back garden or around the other cottages in the September sun. He found himself staring into the past, lost in time, with a tear of homesickness welling up in his emerald green eyes, just as Thomas had been a few moments before. He tried to pull himself together. Hundreds of students had got on the train that day, and they weren't crying, so why should he? Albus climbed into the luggage rack, aided by Thomas and with his tiny kitten Dax clinging to his back with razor sharp claws and mewling in protest. 'I 'm Albus' he said, settling himself precariously on the edge of the rail beside Thomas, who now appeared to be sporting a tangled mop of curly black hair.

'Aren't you Harry Potter's son?' Thomas asked, intrigued, like almost every other child Albus met, if they had just been acquainted with the son of the famous and world renowned 'Boy who lived'

'Yes, I am' Albus replied, remembering what his father had told him about people who goggled at him and who's eyes scanned his lightning scar, a mark of love from Albus's deceased Grandmother, Lily. He wasn't sure he was ready to take fame just at that particular moment, so he quickly changed the subject.

'So, what house do you think you'll be sorted into, then?' inquired Albus, eager to move the conversation away from his family, and to centre it on something new and exciting.

Even though he almost certainly knew he would receive his Hogwarts letter, when he first saw the letter addressed to him lying on the doormat, he had snatched it up off the ground and bounded upstairs like an excited three year old. He had always wanted to come to Hogwarts, and now he was on his way, he had put all his worries behind him and was now even more eager to be sorted and start lessons.

'I don't know' replied Thomas, thoughtfully examining the soles of his shoes again. 'I think maybe Hufflepuff. All my family have been there, and my Mum and Dad were Hufflepuff prefects' But Gryffindor or Ravenclaw will do just fine'

Albus knew exactly what his new friend was thinking. "Not Slytherin. Anything but Slytherin" He felt the same way too. He could imagine the taunts and jeers he have to endure if his brother James knew he had been sorted into the house of the snake, and the looks of disappointment on the faces of his parents, whom had both been in Gryffindor.

'I hope I won't be put in Slytherin though' Continued Thomas, voicing Albus's Thoughts with new look of slight fear and anticipation on his pale, pallid face. 'I couldn't stand it to have my whole family think of me an outcast. My great aunt Lucy says that when she dies, I'll inherit her old time turner! I think that it's one of the only ones left now! But if I get put in Slytherin, I think Jessica will get it. She's my older sister and she would never give it a rest if she got the time turner' he finished.'

'Do you have any other brothers or sisters?' Inquired Albus, Settling himself into a better seating position and depositing Dax onto the trunk so that he could lean back onto the wall and ceiling and curve his back so that his chin was resting on his knees like Thomas's. A strangely comfortable position, he thought. No wonder Thomas Likes it up here.

'Brothers or sisters?' replied Thomas. Yeah, Jess is in fifth year and my little brother is only six. His name's Eddie and he's a metamorphmagus same as me, but he _really _can't control his powers yet. Jessica _hates _that! She's the only one in the family who isn't one apart from Sasha here.'

Thomas picked up the tiny ginger cat and handed her to Albus. She mewed plaintively, arching her back and baring her teeth at him in a disgruntled manner. She eyed him distastefully, digging her claws into his arm. With one rapid movement, she sprung at him, landing heavily and painfully on his head and unsheathing her claws to their maximum length.

'Aaagghh!' yelled Albus, grabbing the hissing kitten from off his head and letting it leap down onto the seats below them.

'Stupid cat! Shouted Thomas despairingly, checking to see if Albus was bleeding. 'Are you OK? He asked, extracting a tissue from his pocket and handing it to Albus. Albus gingerly dabbed his head, watching as deep crimson rosettes of blood seeped through the paper and wincing as the tissue pressed against his skin. He didn't know how one tiny kitten could do so much damage.

Thomas pointed outside the compartment, and, Albus saw an extremely tall girl with long brunette hair that fell almost to her waist, small emerald green eyes and large, pale lips was standing in the aisle between her compartment and the boys'. She stood with her hands on her hips and a look of despaired annoyance on her face. She frowned disapprovingly up at Thomas, tapping her foot on the ground.

Thomas's expression was now one of clear guilt. He swung his legs over the rail and twisted around so that he was hanging by his hands, his body swinging from the motion of the constantly swaying steam engine. He dropped heavily and awkwardly onto the aged looking, faded seats below him and straightened up, looking slightly anxious and nervous at what his elder sister would do to him.

'Thomas, how old are you?' asked Jessica, her hair masking the expression on her face as she grabbed her brother roughly by the wrist and jerked him up sharply into a standing position.

'What do you think you were doing, you idiot! You'll have no friends if you keep acting like a six year old! Gosh, I bet even Eddie wouldn't even do something as silly as that, and you know him, not exactly the family's best example of a sensible human being...'

Thomas shifted his feet guiltily at Jessica's words, staring at the rocking floor with a sad look on his thin face. 'Sorry, Jess' he muttered, sounding genuinely apologetic. Albus could not see what Jessica thought was so wrong in sitting up in a luggage rack, but didn't dare speak, lest Jessica turn her anger on him.

'Sorry for being like that, bro' said Jessica, in a slightly softer and more hushed tone. She gave him a hug, her lips curling into the kind of smile that only older sisters know.

'See you later, Thomas' she smiled, and with a last look at her brother, slid open the compartment door and walked off down the aisle, her hair swishing out behind her like a waterfall.


	2. Chapter 2

All of a sudden, without warning, a girl with a small pointed nose, thin honey coloured plaits, freckles and a look of utter terror on her face ran gasping for breath into the compartment. With one rapid movement, she pulled a silky, flowing, watery looking cloak out of the inside pocket of her robes and threw it over herself. Instantly, she became invisible, leaving only a large expanse of nothingness where she had once stood shaking and gasping for oxygen.

A moment later, a thin blonde boy wearing black Hogwarts robes and a horrible, twisted smile ran into the compartment, followed by a short, skinny girl with short black hair and sharp amber eyes. 'Where's the girl?' Shouted the pale haired boy, extracting a wand from his pocket and pointing it at Albus, Thomas and the cats.

Albus noticed that the boys looked a lot like how his father had described Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, some of the malicious, spiteful Slytherin pupils from his father's school days. He felt a sudden and violent jolt of fear in the pit of his stomach. If these two children were related to his father's old foes, he would have to keep a close eye on them. A very close eye indeed.

"Well, well, well! Aren't you Albus Potter? Son of the man who made my father's life misery while he was at Hogwarts?" Jeered the blonde haired boy, moving his wand closer to Albus, so that it was nearly touching his forehead

Albus didn't know whether to say yes and be proud of it, or to steer clear of aggravating these boys…. Because now he knew. It was Scorpius Malfoy. And he was heading straight for the invisible girl, as if he knew where she was

"You're a slippery creature, aren't you!" Sneered Scorpius, pulling out a wand from the folds of his Hogwarts robes.

But what could he do? Thought Albus, fidgeting nervously up in the luggage rack. We haven't been taught any magic yet, and anyway, if Scorpius did know magic, he wouldn't dare hurt this girl on such a busy train, would he? But maybe he would; after all, he is the son of Draco Malfoy, foe of many Hogwarts students from when Albus's father was at school…

"And don't try to run away, you stupid girl" laughed Scorpius. "I can see your foot." And sure enough, the girl's foot was clearly visible, even though her body was invisible beneath the folds of the invisibility cloak.

Albus had an invisibility cloak too; it used to be his father's when he crept around the school, unseen, with his school friends, Ron and Hermione, who were some of Albus's aunts and uncles.

Just before Scorpius reached the place where the obviously terrified girl stood, a plump, short, kindly looking witch, slid open the door to the compartment. She was pushing a large refreshment trolley laden with all sorts of magical sweets, pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts every flavour beans "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she wheezed.

Scowling, Scorpius and the black-haired girl stormed out into the corridor, fuming with anger at how they had been outwitted by a silly old lady.

Phew, thought Albus .That had been far too close a shave for the first day of term. If the trolley hadn't come when it did, who knows what could have happened?

Albus and Thomas were so ravenous that they ate one of everything on the heavily laden trolley, utterly enjoying every mouthful of it all.

When the smiling witch had gone, the girl took off the cloak and sat down, looking rather relieved. "My name's Mia Jordan-Bell." She said, carefully nibbling the toe of a chocolate frog and twisting the end of one of her rather untidy plaits.

"I'm Thomas" Thomas said, climbing out of the luggage rack, along with Albus.

"And I'm Albus Potter. So how did you get on the wrong side of Scorpius Malfoy before we even arrived?" Asked Albus curiously, eager to avoid the wide, staring eyes and tedious questions routine that always occurred after he uttered this familiar sentence.

'Well..." started Mia hesitantly. "I put the jelly legs jinx on him"

"What did you do that for? Surely you knew that he'll want to get you back for the rest of the year? And anyway, how did you know that spell?" Albus asked, amazed with Mia's bravery and sheer recklessness.

"I needed someone to practice on" Mia continued. 'And he was being so stupid and childish that I couldn't resist it. And as for the spell, my dad showed me how. He's into jokes like that. He used to be best friends with Fred and George Weasley. You know, the owners of Weasley's wizard wheezes in Diagon Alley and Hogsmede. But I suppose there's only George after the Battle At Hogwarts, isn't there."

'Is your dad Lee Jordan?" Albus asked. "Because he used to know my dad when he was at school"

"Yes!" Mia replied "and my mum is Katie Bell. She plays for the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team. She's a chaser, and I think she used to be on the Gryffindor team with your dad, too."

Outside, the once clear blue sky was now the same pitch black colour as Thomas's kitten. It was as if the whole train was in a never ending tunnel that stretched out through the infinite expanse of inky black night, and the window had become a blurry mirror that reflected the lamps and reflections of the trio that sat talking on the seats.

"LOOK! IT'S HOGWARTS!" yelled Thomas at the top of his voice, his hair merging into all the colours of the spectrum. And sure enough, a massive, magnificent castle appeared large and looming on the horizon. It had many tall turrets, towers and high mullioned windows, lit up from the inside with thousands of candles and lamps. It was truly amazing.


	3. Chapter 3

When the scarlet steam engine finally pulled into Hogsmede station, Mia, Albus and Thomas carefully climbed of the train onto the wet slippery platform. Albus felt felt full of nervous anticipation welling up inside him, waiting to burst.

What if he disgraced the name of Potter? What if he couldn't do any magic and had to be sent home? He couldn't bear the thought of going home and seeing the disappointed faces of mum, dad, and his sister lily if he could not do magic.

"First years this way" called a large man with an enormous lantern in his hand. The light flooded the platform, illuminating the heads of the rushing, noisy crowd of chattering and frantic students. Albus knew this man to be Hagrid, an old friend of Albus's father and the Hogwarts gamekeeper.

The excited trio squeezed their way through the bustling crowd towards Hagrid. Albus recognized Rose Weasley and several others, including Eden Longbottom, daughter of the Herbology teacher Neville Longbottom, who had been in the same house and year as Albus's father, Harry. Albus followed the rest of the babbling first years and gasped in amazement.

In front of him was a vast lake churning with masses of steely iron grey water. Bobbing up and down on the water were about a dozen little wooden boats.

"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid yelled over the noise of the churning water and the loud , ecstatic yelling of the excited first years.

"Come on! Yelled albus excitedly, pulling Thomas and Mia with him. He suddenly spotted Rose Weasley standing on her own, looking slightly nervous and slightly apprehensive about boarding one of the boats.

"ROSE!" yelled Albus, beckoning to her. "Over here!"

Rose looked slightly less anxious. She smiled slightly and took a few tentative steps over to the trio's boat. Then Rose clambered in, squeaking slightly as the boat was buffeted roughly to the side by the choppy water. When everyone was sitting in one of the boats, the little fleet of tiny vessels moved silently towards the magnificent castle.

It was much easier to see the school from their vantage point on the black lake, and soon there ware gasps of utter awe and astonishment among the children. Soon they were close enough to glide smoothly underneath the castle into a small chamber. They were led up a tiny flight of rickety stairs and emerged into a huge, brightly lit entrance hall.

As soon as Albus had fully taken in what was around him, a stern looking woman wearing small round spectacles appeared , giving the impression that they were looking at a cat wearing tartan robes, and a no-nonsense face.

"My name is professor McGonagall. Welcome to Hogwarts. Here, you will learn that hard work, effort and kindness are profitable. When we enter the great hall, you will be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. You can earn house points for high achievement and effort in all areas of the school. Equally, rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup."

At Professor Mc Gonagall's words, Albus could see Scorpius and the black haired girl whispering darkly to each other, and occasionally gave Eden Longbottom furtive glances from across the hall.

The grand doors opened, and the first years filed in one by one. The ceiling was amazing. It seemed to Albus as if there was no roof, just the star strewn sky stretching forever over the Great Hall. Four long tables stretched the whole length of the hall, supporting hundreds of large silver plats and goblets.

When all the children had lined up in front of the long teacher's table, professor McGonagall placed a stool on the ground. On top of the stool, there was a tatty, dog eared hat.

"It's the sorting hat" whispered Eden Longbottom. And sure enough, the hat began to sing.

Oh,you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your tops hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell brave of heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And you won't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

"When I call your name, put the hat on, and sit on the stool."

"Eden Longbottom!"

The hat sat on her head for a few seconds before its voice rang out around the silently staring hall

"Hufflepuff!" Her father, Professor Longbottom, who was head of Hufflepuff, gave her a wink

"Thomas Johnson"

Thomas stumbled and tripped awkwardly towards the old, frayed hat , and when h finally perched himself tentatively on the edge of the stool, the hat fell down over his yes. I t took a while, but eventually the hat yelled

'Gryffindor '

Thomas ran over towards the Gryffindor table, where his hair turned as red as Rose Weasley's.

"Mia Jordan-Bell"

Mia Sauntered casually up to the stool, taking time to examine the intricate design on the banner that was hanging on the wall next to her

"Gryffindor"

Mia Skipped happily over to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Thomas, James and Jessica, who patted her affectionately on the back

Malfoy, Scorpius."

As soon as the hat touched his head it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

This continued , and Rose Weasley had luckily been sorted into Gryffindor along with Mia and Thomas.

"Potter, Albus." There were collective gasps as people realized who this was. Albus saw James grinning at him from the Gryffindor table. People didn't make as big a fuss about attention-craving James because he looked nothing like his father, whereas Albus was a younger version of Harry, just without the lightning shaped scar branded on his forehead. Professor Longbottom placed the hat on Albus' head and waited expectantly.

"Ooh, a tricky one." The hat announced to Albus alone. "Like your father, you could well in Slytherin."

But I'm not a parselmouth like he used to be, thought Albus.

"No, you are not." The hat replied for Albus's ears alone. "Very few Slytherin students are parselmouths, Potter."

I don't want be in Slytherin_,_ he told the hat in his head. Dad said I could choose_._

"Then courageous and brave as you are, child; better be GRYFFIDOR!"

Albus hopped up off the stool, grinning, to go and sit with the rest of the Weasley Potter clan and his friends at the noisy Gryffindor table.


	4. Chapter 4

After all the first years had been sorted, every kind of food you could imagine appeared in front of the students. There was roast, fish and chips, bacon, eggs, peas, gravy, and strangely, there were also lemon sherbets. The students piled their plates high with mouthwatering meals.

James, being his usual rude self, reached for a plate first, but Jessica, who was sitting next to him, slapped his hand away. Albus and mia found this funny, but James couldn't stand being reprimanded by a girl. He pulled her hair hard, causing her to squeak and drawing attention to them. He sat back in his seat, pleased with himself, as a group of stern teachers and hungry students gave him dirty looks. Most of the Weasley and potter cousins were sitting nearby, and Molly, Lucy, Victoire and Andromeda all rolled their eyes at James.

Albus, Thomas and Mia moved along the table to sit with Rose, and scooped great handfuls of food onto their plates

"This is amazing!" cried Mia, scoffing a plate of chips that were drowned in ketchup. Thomas Frowned distastefully at Mia's meal, and with an air of disapproving deliberation, popped a tiny square of neatly cut pizza into his open mouth.

Albus got a terrible surprise when a ghostly head rose up slowly out of his lasagne and spoke in an old, croaky voice.

"Hello, how are you?" He asked, emerging up out of the food to hover above the table. He donned an old fashioned set of Tudor looking robes and wore a large lacy ruff around his neck.

"Fine" Albus replied, still a little shocked. Mia grabbed one of the ketchup covered chips that Thomas so despised, aimed carefully, and threw. The chip soared in a graceful arc over the heads of Albus, Thomas and Rose and fell through the shoulder of the rather disgruntled ghost.

"I am Sir Nicholas de mimsy porpington, the resident ghost of Gryffindor tower. Also known as nearly headless Nick." He sighed, pulled on his left ear and part of his head came off.

"But I am not at _all_ like the Bloody baron over there" He pointed over at the Slytherin table, a look of strong distaste on his ghostly face.

On the other side of the room, a horrible looking ghost was swooping around the Slytherins, cackling nastily. He was drenched in a strange silvery substance that looked horribly like blood.

After all the students were full with delicious food, the feast vanished, leaving the plates gleaming clean again. The students then fell silent, to listen to professor McGonagall's speech.

"Welcome students!" Smiled professor McGonagall, adjusting the pieces of parchment in her hands. This year, I need to tell you that the Slytherin dungeons will not be fit to live in, and so extra beds have been placed in Gryffindor tower." She pursed her lips, braced for the uproar that was sure to follow.

Many groans and shouts from the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables echoed dismally and loudly around the hall, Scorpius scowling in the direction of Albus.

'As usual, the forest is a banned area. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, students, that if you do venture into the Slytherin dungeons, you may never come out. That is all."

She turned away from the school and walked hurriedly out of the room. At once, the first years who were in Gryffindor and Slytherin followed a prefect towards a marble staircase, which led to many more twisted flights of stone steps that led to many places in the vast fortress.

"Wow!" said rose Weasley, smiling as they climbed the wide stone stairs. "This is much better than Mum and dad described it!"

"It's amazing isn't it!" cried Mia, happily, as they were walking along a long, wide corridor. Grand paintings were hung along the walls, their inhabitants running up and down inside them, whispering excitedly about the new intake of first years.

"Aaah! Aren't they sweet?" cried a lady, who was painted inside a rather beautiful painting of a lush meadow.

Eventually, after climbing a long, winding staircase, the Gryffindors emerged into a beautiful common room. Thick red and gold carpets lined the floors, whilst large, squashy armchairs were arranged in a cosy looking circle around a roaring fire.

The boys all climbed yet more stairs, until they reached their dormitory. Albus was so completely tired that he changed into his pajamas straight away. Without realizing that he had put his trousers on back to front, he collapsed onto his four poster bed and fell fast asleep.

Albus awoke in the pitch blackness. It was surely still the middle of the night. So why had he woken up? He turned round onto his back with his eyes closed. When he opened them, he was looking straight into the face of Scorpius malfoy. And he was smiling nastily, with his wand raised. Albus knew that this was a pretty sticky situation. It was his first night and here he was, in bed, with malfoy bending over him, holding a wand. He felt helpless and vulnerable, and he didn't know what to do. He chewed his bottom lip, as he always did when he was nervous or in danger.

"Scared, Potter? Sneered Scorpius, pulling Albus roughly down onto the floor. His head smacked hard on the ground, making tiny popping lights appear in front of his eyes. He staggered upright, pulling himself up using one of the oak bedposts. Albus groped in the darkness for his wand. His hand closed around the thin rod of wood and he pointed it directly at Scorpius.

Before albus knew what was happening, Scorpius shouted;

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!

Albus felt as if his stomach had been left on the ground as he rose twenty feet into the air. He heard Scorpius laugh maliciously before albus fell back onto the bed, dazed. He got off the bed, wondering what spell he could use. And then he remembered! His father had taught him just one spell.

"EXPELLIARMUS" cried Albus. It worked. Scorpius's wand flew out of his hand and Albus caught it neatly.

"YOULL PAY FOR THAT ONE, POTTER! Scorpius bellowed. He snatched back his wand, kicked Albus maliciously and strutted off to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Albus found that one of the most difficult parts about his classes at Hogwarts was actually getting to the classes. With Peeves shooting around tossing rocks at you, the stairs randomly deciding to turn around and put you in a place completely out of the way of your class, and the sheer size of the castle itself, Albus thought that one of those muggle GPS-things Thomas had mentioned would have been useful, even though he still didn't know what it was exactly. But, with their combined efforts, Albus, Mia and Thomas managed to find their way around without getting completely lost too many times. When they finally managed to locate their Potions Classroom on the first day, they were ten minutes late and Professor Parkinson wasn't happy.

They were set to work at once. "I don't think we did this right…" Albus said, consulting his potions book. He and Mia were supposed to be making a shrinking solution, but instead of the subtle green colour the book said it should be, it had turned a bright shade of sunshine yellow.

"I was sure that we did…" Mia said, rereading the instructions in her own book. "I guess not… I wonder- oh! Here's the problem, we didn't add the gurdyroots before stirring."

"Now we need to start the whole thing over," Albus muttered, glaring at the roots sitting next to the cauldron as if they had offended him.

As he and Mia carried their cauldron over to the large sink to empty it, Thomas was rechecking his and Rose's' own potion.

"Are you sure this is the right shade of green?" Thomas asked Rose, peering into their cauldron at the bubbling potion. "It looks more like turquoise to me…"

"It's green," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Stop fretting over it."

Twenty minutes later, Professor Parkinson began walking around the classroom, observing the student's potions. When she reached Albus and Mia, they were still rushing to finish, but they froze when Professor Parkinson stood in front of their table and folded her arms. She looked down at the half-finished potion, shaking her head.

"Disappointing…" she said. "Do you think you can do this and get away with it?"

"No, miss… we-" Miranda said quickly, but Professor Parkinson interrupted her.

"No excuses!" she said. "Since lunch is next, the two of you will stay after class to finished this potion properly, then write an essay on why the correct procedure in potion making is crucial, to be handed in tomorrow morning, no exceptions."

Albus wanted to protest, but thought better of it and looked down at the table. Professor Parkinson walked away, and he glared after her. It's not like he was messing up on purpose.

"This is so unfair," he muttered, leaning back in his chair. "She's the teacher, she should help us if we're having a problem, not punish us for it."

Mia nodded, absentmindedly stirring the potion. Albus listened as Professor Parkinson congratulated Scorpius Malfoy and her daughter Bellatrix Parkinson on successfully creating their shrinking solution perfectly.

Albus walked over to Rose and Thomas

"I can't go to lunch," he explained as Rose was packing up her things into her bag. "Professor Parkinson is making me stay afterwards to re-make the potion with Mia."

"Anything we can do to help?" Thomas asked, but Albus shook his head.

"No, we can handle it, thanks anyway."

As the bell rang, the four friends left the classroom and walked down the corridor.

Their second ever lesson was History of Magic, which Thomas thoroughly enjoyed. He took pages and pages of notes while Mia, Rose and Albus played hangman on the corner of a piece of parchment. When Thomas kicked them under the desk and gave them an extremely disapproving look, they started taking notes. After a few minutes, however, they had began drawing moustaches, eyelashes and long hair on pictures of the Minister for Magic that were inside that morning's issue of the 'Daily Prophet' that had been delivered to Thomas at breakfast .

The third lesson of the day was Herbology, so Professor Longbottom met them all outside , near the greenhouse that contained the less dangerous specimens and a tray of puff plants in need of re - potting.

They spent the hour re potting puff plants and talking about the plans for the year, which included going on a trip to the garden centre in Hogsmede to purchase new slug eating bushes for Hagrid.

'Scorpius hates me' whispered Albus to Thomas as he shovelled a heap of dragon dung into the pot and plunged the furry shrub into it.

'No, he doesn't, replied Thomas, putting down the shovel and leaning on it, looking at his friend. 'His father just wanted you to be miserable, that's all.

Albus wasn't so sure, because the look of hatred on Scorpius's face was clear that he loathed Albus.

Their Transfiguration teacher, Professor Finch was an elderly, frail-looking teacher who spent the lesson bragging about how he was the first wizard to ever transfigure a house into a castle

"It was many years ago," he croaked, "and something I will never, ever forget." He stared up at the ceiling, glassy eyed.

"How is he so old?" Asked Thomas, when they were back in the common room after dinner and had enjoyed a full day of action packed lessons.

"Wizards have a longer life span than Muggles," reminded Mia, absent mindedly twisting her messy plait around her index finger, which was tipped with a severely chewed nail.

"I was looking forward to learning with Professor McGonagall, after all , my parents described her as being an excellent teacher, but obviously as headmistress, she has other things to do with her time" said Thomas, opening his transfiguration book at page four, and began to write his essay about 'The theory of basic transfiguration' He began writing very neatly about how the object starts to form its new shape, when a loud, eerie ticking noise filled the common room.

It was more than just a simple ' tick tock of a clock, it was much more meaningful, a sound that burrowed right inside your soul, filling you up with sorrow and the kind of fear you get when you feel as if you are being watched.

Albus got down on his hands and knees, and pressed his ear to the floor. The noise was coming from far, far below him; deep in the roots of the ancient castle. It was coming from the dungeons, the forbidden, dangerous zone.


	6. Chapter 6

"But we can't!" protested Thomas indignantly, closing his pristine textbook and rolling up his completed essay. "Professor McGonagall said no! We'll get expelled for sure, and…'

Abruptly, the eerie ticking stopped, allowing them to think more clearly.

Mia sighed, shook her head pityingly at her goody-goody friend, stood up and said excitedly "All those in favour of going to have a look" She raised her grubby hand, along with Albus, whom was eager to get down to the dungeons and discover the source of the ticking*as soon as possible.

"Two against one" said Albus, finishing doing Mia's transfiguration essay for her and rolling it up into a scroll.

"OK then" mumbled Thomas, casting a disapproving look at the both of them. "But if we get caught creeping around then I'm blaming you" He pointed at the other two, who looked at one another and nodded.

"We'll need some essential items" proposed Albus impatiently, grabbing Thomas by the wrist and pulling him up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, which was extremely crowded because of the extra students.

They approached Albus's bed quietly, as many of the other first year boys were asleep, snoring peacefully in their beds. Albus rummaged through his dis-organized trunk, and pulled out a large piece of battered parchment, yellowed with age.

It was the Marauder's map, a useful item that showed a detailed map of Hogwarts and tiny labeled dots, each representing a person. This map was made by Albus's late Grandfather James, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Al of the four 'Marauders' had died before Lord Voldemort was defeated. James, in fact was murdered at the dark wizard's own hands, along with his wife Lily. This map would come in handy for creeping around under Mia's invisibility cloak, to check where people were located in the whole castle and the surrounding area. Albus's brother had and invisibility cloak, too it had been their father's and was the only cloak in existence that renders the wearer truly invisible forever, as it was made with the ability to evade even Death himself. Mia's cloak, however, was simply woven from demiguise hair and would only last a few years before the spell wore off. .

After meeting mia in the entrance hall, the three children crept down to the Slytherin dungeons, treading on each other's feet as they stumbled around awkwardly underneath the invisibility cloak, using the map as a guide.

As they reached the door, Thomas pulled out his wand and whispered "Alohamora" Mia and Albus both heard the lock click, and the door swung open.

The room was dark and dingy, and completely empty to the human eye. But who knows what could be lurking in the shadows? Thought Albus nervously, chewing his bottom lip. His emotions rocked and teetered uneasily on the edge of the crumbling precipice of fear, and then fell screaming into the bottomless chasm of doubt. Then, eerie shadows chased each other around the wet, dripping walls, shadows that did not belong, shadows whose forms took the shape of creatures not known to this world. Creatures with many horns, dozens of wet, slimy tentacles which writhed and whipped at the empty air and long, pointed fangs that ripped at the terror inside your very soul. And yet, these things had no solid object to cast them upon the stone walls of darkness. Then there were the noises. Muffled, high pitched, bloodcurdling screams that pierced your heart and made your spine shiver uncontrollably in the inky blackness.

'We should go' whispered Mia uneasily. 'It's not safe here. Thomas was right.' She shook and shivered underneath the cloak next to Albus, her teeth chattering with fear. Albus grabbed her cold, clammy hand tightly, smiled apprehensively at her and whispered;

'Yes, let's leave. Come on Thomas.' He led Thomas and Mia back up the stone steps quickly, eager to flee from that terrible place as soon as possible. He stayed at the back of the line, constantly checking over his shoulders for any signs of unnatural activities from the horrible room that they had just vacated.

'That was freaky!' cried Mia, still shaking and sweating in utter terror when they had collapsed onto the squashy armchairs in front of the dying fire in the Gryffindor common room. It seemed as if many hours had elapsed from the time when they had entered the darkened room to the present moment. Well, maybe they had. The trio might have lost track of time in the chamber of darkness, what with all the twisted shadows cantering around with no creatures to cast them and the eerie screams that reverberated around the Dungeon with no voice to issue them. They may have stood there for ages, hypnotized by the spine tingling freaks of nature. If they had stayed standing in the doorway for just a moment longer, they may not have ever come out alive. Albus made up his mind while staring intently at the glowing embers that he and Thomas would return there alone together only if it was absolutely necessary. He didn't want Mia's life endangered any more than it had been tonight, and he was sure Thomas would agree whole heartedly.

'Mia, if we ever have to go down there again, Thomas and I have to do it on our own. It's too dangerous for you. We don't want to risk you getting hurt. Or worse' explained Albus .

'No! Exclaimed Mia, rising to her feet defiantly. 'I'm not weak or a, a, scaredy- cat, you know! She shouted. But even as she said this, she swayed where she stood and fell with a thud onto the floor, her eyes rolled back in her head.

'Mia! Shouted Albus, falling to his knees beside his unconscious friend. He and Thomas shook her gently, but to no avail. She remained as motionless as a doll on the crimson-carpeted floor.

'Something in that room made her ill.' Said Thomas, and we've got to get her to the hospital wing! Now!


	7. Chapter 7

"Quidditch tryouts are this weekend!" a completely healthy Mia was saying to her friends at breakfast the next morning. "I can't wait; I've been practicing all summer with my dad, I'll be sure to get on the team this year."

Albus practically choked on his pumpkin juice and looked at Mia. "Are they really? Why am I only finding out about this now?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention it?" Thomas asked, looking at Albus. "Sorry. I just thought I'd save you the trouble."

"Trouble?" Mia asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you going on about?"

Albus looked at Thomas for an explanation. After all, the school had changed the rules so first years could try out to be on their house teams. Albus and his cousin Rose had spent the majority of their summer getting ready. His own dad had got onto the team in his very first year, so he felt like he needed to live up to that. He didn't think he needed to be seeker; he just wanted to make the team, hopefully as chaser. He didn't want to be a small clone of his Father. He wanted to make a name for himself, Albus Potter, not the son of the Chosen One.

"Well," Thomas said, looking as though the answer was already obvious. "I know first years can try to get on the team, but the captains never let first years on, only Teddy Lupin got on in his first year, and he was a fantastic seeker. Luke Wood is captain this year, and he is only going to choose the best. Why, last year when Ted was captain the entire team was made up of six seventh years and one sixth year, and that sixth year was Luke, he's a beater."

"Exactly," Mia said. "They need six new players, so we might as well try out."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Thomas said before starting on his bacon .

"I'll show him," Mia muttered stubbornly, stabbing her steak with her fork.

Albus stared at his food, suddenly not feeling at all hungry. The way Thomas put it, it seemed impossible that he would even be taken seriously at tryouts. But he had to try, he had to. His own father had made the team in his very first year, so why shouldn't Albus give it a go? He wanted to make his father proud of him, to show him and everyone else he was more than just the famous Harry Potter's son.

As Rose and Albus discussed the quidditch tryouts, Scorpius noticed the large gap on the bench between Rose Weasley and Thomas. Rose, who had seen this, looked up at him. "Are you okay?"

Scorpius, pretending not to have heard her, said instead, "What position are you going to try out for?"

"Seeker," Rose said with a smile. "Al was always a chaser and I always played seeker when our family had matches against each other. Teddy Lupin was the seeker last year and he's been helping me out over the summer."

"I'm a chaser," Scorpius said, taking his mind off the Gryffindors glaring at him for daring to talk to one of them. "My dad used to be seeker on his house team, but he says I'd make a better chaser. Slytherin could do with a new Malfoy."

"What are you doing?" yelled Albus to Rose. He grabbed his cousin's wrist and led her out of the great hall, leaving a rather fed up Thomas and Mia to scurry along behind them, a look of complete disbelief on their faces. Why did Albus hate Scorpius so much?

The weekend came much too quickly for Albus' liking, and he found himself waking up early that Saturday morning to get ready for quidditch tryouts. After rapidly getting dressed and grabbing his broomstick from under his bed, he walked down to the common room to find Mia and Thomas having yet another disagreement, both of their brooms propped up against the wall near the portrait hole.

"The Cannons are ten Lukees better than the Tornados!" Mia was saying to a disgruntled looking Thomas.

"Well if you are basing that on how many Lukees they've lost, then the Cannons win by a long shot," he said.

"If they're so terrible then why are the Cannons leading the league this year?" Mia asked, crossing her arms.

"For the first Lukee since 1892!" Thomas said. "But-"

"Enough!" Albus interjected, causing the two of them to look at him. "We have more important a thing to worry about than whose team is winning the league. Let's go get some food before tryouts."

And so, after grabbing some toast from the nearly empty Great Hall, the three of them made their way down to the quidditch pitch, to find more than a dozen other Gryffindors huddled in the middle of the pitch, trying to find the least damaged school brooms and equipment. A cool breeze blew through the stadium and the clouds blotted out the feeble morning sun. Up in the stands surrounding the pitch, several people sat to watch the tryouts; Albus even saw Victoire and a few of her friends watching.

Albus felt a fresh sensation of nervousness as he looked around at the other Gryffindors. The three of them were the only first years there, besides Benny Finnegan, who looked like he was ready to run off at any moment.

Keep it together, Albus told himself, clutching the handle of his broom tightly. You can do this.

"Ready?" Mia asked him as Luke Wood, a tall and strongly built looking seventh year with dark brown hair walked onto the pitch. His father, Oliver Wood, the retired keeper of Puddlemere United as well as the current school quidditch coach and flying instructor, was helping him carry out a large trunk. Albus nodded nervously, smiling hesitantly at her and squeezing her hand encouragingly. Luke and his father set the trunk down and he walked over to the group.

"Nice turnout," he said, looking at all of them. "Unfortunately, most of you will leave here disappointed by the Lukee we're done. Hmm, I see we have three new faces-"

He was looking at Albus, Mia, and Thomas, apparently Benny had left.

"It's very brave of you to come," Luke continued, and then he clapped his hands together. "Okay then! I'm going to divide you up into teams and we are going to have a mock game to see how well you all play. Sort yourselves by position now."

After a lot of confusion, they all managed to sort into the four groups, Albus Wished Mia good luck before joining the other Gryffindors going for chaser. Albus looked at the eight other Gryffindors who were in the chaser group . They all looked very intimidating compared to Albus and Thomas. He spotted James over with the other keepers, and he actually gave Albus an encouraging smile before turning back to his group. Luke was now walking around assigning teams. Albus was still trying to convince himself to calm down when he reached the chaser group.

"You ," he said, indicating at Thomas , Albus and a group of fifth year students "Team one. the rest of you lot, team two."

Albus grinned over at Mia in the seeker group before joining the rest of team one, which James and Thomas were both in with him. They mounted their brooms on Luke's signal, the golden words 'firebolt' shining up at Albus from the handle of his broom. Professor Wood released the bludgers, tossed the quaffle into the air, blew his whistle, and they were off. Albus grabbed the quaffle and immediately sped down the pitch. He felt great, being back on his broom. He loved the exciting sensation he got when he took off down the field, and for a moment he actually forgot he was at tryouts. Team two's chasers were closing in on him, so he threw the ball to a fifth year girl, who passed it to Thomas, who raced down the pitch and put it through the middle goal post quickly before taking control of the quaffle again. Through a pass to Albus the other team intercepted and took off the other way. After a near-collision with a bludger, sixth year Samantha Pusey dropped the ball and Albus caught it, turning around swiftly and racing in the other direction.

The game went on for nearly half an hour. Once, Mia put on a look of concentration and sped across the pitch, but it was only to throw off the other seeker, and it worked.

Twice Albus almost got knocked off his broom by a bludger, but Luke Wood was an amazing beater, always speeding out of nowhere and whacking the bludger at an opposing player. After putting the quaffle through the goal another Lukee Albus spun around to see that Mia was now racing across the field at an incredible speed, followed closely by the other seeker. He could just see a glint of gold down at the end of the field; it was for real this Lukee. Mia was not faking.

"Go, Mia!" Albus yelled as Thomas stole the quaffle from a sixth year and raced down the pitch. Team two's chasers were being oddly aggressive, as if they weren't about to let a couple of first years beat them, but neither Thomas nor Albus cared, they didn't mind a challenge.

Victoire and a few other first years in the stands were cheering and Albus ducked out of the way of another bludger and looked up just in Lukee to see Mia take one last desperate swipe at the ball and close her hand around the tiny golden snitch.

"Yes!" Albus cheered as the whistle blew and they all returned to the ground. When he reached the group, Mia was already there, still holding the tiny, struggling ball and Luke and Professor Wood were speaking to her.

"-amazing," Oliver Wood was saying. "I have to say I haven't seen such young talent since Harry Potter was on the team. And neiter of his two boys are seekers"

"Your right," Luke agreed with his father. "You're just the build for a seeker, too. I wouldn't usually allow a first year on the team, but… we'll see… and those two friends of yours, the chasers… again, we'll see…"

Mia beamed at Albus and Thomas as they walked over to her.

"Nice catch," Albus grinned at her as the rest of the Gryffindors reached them.

"Great flying, today," Luke said to the group at large. "I am actually very impressed. The team list will be posted on the board by tomorrow afternoon."

As they all left the pitch, the sixth year that had played seeker against Rose walked up to her.

"Good flying out there," he said, holding out his hand for her to shake, which she did. "I'm Jason, by the way. Jason McLaggen."

"I'm Mia, "Mia said, suddenly realising that this was the son of Cormac McLaggen, a former Quidditch teammate of both her parents.

"I know," Jason said with a bright smile. "Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if you made the team, even if you are just a first year."

"Um, thank you," Mia said slowly, trying to decide if that was a compliment.

"See you later," Jason said, he nodded curtly to Albus and Thomas before sticking his hands in his pockets and walking off to join his friends, who were waiting for him by the entrance to the changing rooms.

"I don't like him," Thomas said simply, looking at Jason as he and his friends left.

"Why's that?" Mia asked, looking at him too. "He seems very nice."

But Thomas only muttered something before they all walked back to the locker room.

It was nearly eleven o'clock when they returned to the school and, still in a very good mood from the quidditch tryouts, Albus didn't even complain when Mia dragged them down to the library to work on the essay that professor Parkinson assigned the pair for their potions homework.


	8. Chapter 8

The library was an extremely interesting place. Thomas practically fell over the first time he saw it. There were hundreds of long rows of towering shelves, holding thousands upon thousands of books on probably every magical subject imaginable. The three of them had found a large oak table by a shining mullioned window at the end of a row made by seven shelves. It was quiet and confined from the rest of the library, making it an ideal place for studying or, in this case, writing a ten-inch essay on the properties of a bezoar.

"Only eight inches," Albus muttered, measuring his essay after an hour and a half of writing. "Mia, how much have you got?"

"Four," Mia said, glaring at the paper as if it would tell her what words to write. Albus grinned. Mia wasn't the most hard-working friend he'd ever been acquainted with, but when she actually tried her best to achieve something, some time she could do even better than Thomas. She brought a little fun and humour into the lives of the trio, and Thomas probably would probably be even more distant and detached from the rest of the world if Mia wasn't around all the time to loosen him up a bit. Albus couldn't help feeling a rush of affection for Mia as he looked across at her long, shining brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes. He watched as she bent over her work, sucking the end of her sugar quill and frowning slightly as she began to write again. Slowly uncertainly, she looked straight into Albus's eyes. Hazel met emerald, and Albus felt as if he was floating. All the breath had left him, and all that existed was the girl in front of him. It was as if he was in a trance, mesmerized by Mia's steady and hypnotizing gaze and his heart was beating hard and fast in his throat. Albus didn't know how much time had passed, but it seemed like a blissful eternity before their dreamy link was broken.

"Well, I'm done!" Thomas said, rolling up his parchment and putting it into his school bag. "I hope Professor Parkinson doesn't mind that it's eighteen inches instead of ten."

"I don't think she'll mind," Mia said crossly, rolling her eyes and turning back to the painfully short essay.

"There you guys are!"

James was walking towards them. When he reached them he sat down next to Mia and grinned at her.

"Great job at tryouts," he said, an impressed grin on his face. "The look on Luke's face… he couldn't believe you beat McLaggen to the snitch. I can't believe I'm saying this, but all three of you did really well, even you, Thomas. Oh, by the way, Teddy's here!"

"What?" Albus asked, looking up from his essay and frowning at his brother. "Why?"

"The auror he's training with, I think his name is Creevey or something, is having a meeting with McGonagall, and Ted was allowed to come along," James explained. "I don't believe that though, I think he just came to kiss Victoire."

"I want to see him!" Rose said. "Where is he?"

"Like I said…" James said, "Probably kissing Vicky."

"Who's kissing me?" Victoire asked, suddenly appearing from behind a bookshelf with an open Encyclopedia of Fairies and Pixies in her hands. She raised her eyebrows at James, waiting for an answer.

"Ted's here," James said, looking at her. "Didn't you know? He's probably up in the common room"

Victoire dropped the heavy encyclopedia in shock, and the loud bang reverberated around the library, causing Madame Pince to look up and give Vicky a stern look.

"He is?" she asked, eyes wide. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"And with that, she ran out of the library, shaking her silvery blonde hair out of its ponytail as she went.

"You'd think she'd know if her own boyfriend was visiting," James said, picking up the Encyclopedia and reaching over to the nearest bookshelf to shove it roughly on top of the other books.

"He was probably going to surprise her, "Albus said, frowning at his brother as James returned to his position close beside Mia. Too close for Albus. He aimed a kick at James, causing him to yelp like an injured puppy. Mia, Albus was glad to see, looked at him as if he was the giant squid and shuffled along the bench to sit next to Rose, who was reading a thick, heavy volume about some kind of magical plants.

"Finished!" Albus said suddenly, dropping his quill on the table and leaning back in his chair sighing.

"I've still got three inches left!" Mia said. "I need to finish this stupid thing."

"Save it until after we go and see Teddy!" Rose said impatiently, snapping her book shut.

"Fine," Albus said, sticking his finished paper into his bag and standing up. "I want to put this back in my dorm first. Give Teddy time to see Victoire before we go to annoy him."

"Got it," Rose said, standing up as well. "Are you coming, Mia, Thomas?"

"Might as well," Mia sighed, rolling up the incomplete essay before packing up her things and following Albus, Rose and James out of the Library, leaving Thomas to tag along behind as usual. When they reached the entrance to the common room and said the password, Tabby, they climbed through the portrait hole to see a boy in his late teens with raspberry pink hair sitting on the squashy armchair in front of the fire, his arm around a smiling Victoire's shoulders.

"Ted!" Albus said, running over to the boy. "You are here."

"Yup," Teddy Lupin grinned. Dennis Creevy is here to discuss something with the Headmistress. Something about having to find a new apparition instructor for the sixth years. The old one splinched himself one too many times, lost a whole leg this time, I believe. That must have been odd for the elderly muggle who found it, too… Poor old dear was doing her grocery shopping. Slipped over on her bag of Maris Piper Potatoes, if I've heard correctly"

James laughed. "Nice."

"And since I'm only here for an hour or so," Teddy continued, "I asked Creevy if I could come up here until he's done, so here I am."

They talked for a while, mostly about Teddy's auror training, until he brought something else up.

"Professor McGonagall told me about quidditch tryouts this morning," he said, looking at Rose, Albus, Mia and a grumpy looking Thomas. "And I heard that you three did pretty well. You even beat that McLaggen kid to the snitch, isn't that right?"

Mia nodded, her face red, as she smiled. "I do hope we got on the team…"

"Well, if you do, be sure to kick Slytherin's butt," Teddy said with a wide smile

"Will do," Albus nodded.

The next day, Albus woke up and ran into the common room to see if the team list was there yet, but it wasn't. For the entire day he felt like somebody was tap-dancing in his stomach; anxious and nervous.

Upon returning from lunch, the three of them found that there was a lot of commotion going on in the common room. A large throng of Gryffindors were grouped around the notice board by the portrait hole, making it very hard to actually get into the common room at all.

"They've just posted the Quidditch team on the notice board," Rose informed them, trying to get a look at the parchment tacked to the board over the crowd of people, but to no such luck. Albus' stomach lurched, this was it.

"I'll go see," Mia said, handing Albus her bag before pushing her way through the large group of people. After a few minutes, they heard a loud squeal, and a moment later she returned breathless from the sea of Gryffindors.

"We've made it!" she exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around both boys. "You're both chasers, you two, and I've made seeker! I can't wait until I tell mum and dad!"

Thomas, his face hot for some reason he didn't know, looked pleased by the news, but Albus was grinning from ear to ear. He had made his house quidditch team in his very first year, not even James had been able to do that!

Feeling as if he had just achieved the impossible, Albus sprinted up to his dormitory and pulled out a quill and a sheet of parchment. He couldn't stop smiling even as he wrote the letter; just wait until his dad heard about this!


	9. Chapter 9

Albus awoke two weeks later to see an overcast and cloudy sky through the high, mullioned windows of the dormitory. From the look of the grey clouds scudding rapidly across the heavens, it looked like a storm was brewing. Hopefully it would wait until the end of the match, although not even Albus Dumbledore could even begin to fathom the fickle mind of the unpredictable and sometimes violent weather that hung over the mountains of Scotland. Albus sat up quickly, opened the rich velvet curtains of his four poster bed and looked around. Everyone was still asleep except for Thomas, who naturally had set his alarm for six o'clock that morning. He was probably already in the common room with the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team, discussing tactics.

It was the Saturday of the first Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and Albus felt like something unpleasant was flapping around inside his stomach, occasionally pinching his insides. He quickly and silently climbed out of bed and got dressed into his Quidditch robes. They were his father's first ever set of Gryffindor Quidditch robes, and so Albus had a lot to live up to. He grabbed his firebolt and walked sleepily down the spiral staircase into the common room, yawning as he went.

Sure enough, the rest of the team was sitting huddled around the common room fire, but not many were talking. James was continuously checking his watch, and Luke Wood was going over a diagram of a move the team had been practicing, poking the markings on it with his wand as they moved around. Thomas was sitting on the floor with his head between his knees, and Mia was anxiously glancing out the window at the pitch, her teeth tearing at the stub of a no longer existent fingernail.

"Okay team," Luke said, folding up his diagram and standing up. "Let's have a quick bite to eat before going down to the pitch, got to keep our strength up."

And so they all followed him down to the Great Hall, chatting nervously about what the outcome of the match would be . When they sat down, they were the only people there at all. Sixth year Ianto Jones and seventh year Jack Barrowman were telling Mia not to worry about the game, because she looked extremely nervous and agitated as she fidgeted in her seat. Albus himself was feeling extremely apprehensive, as bad thoughts were chasing each other about in his mind. What if they lost? What if he wasn't good enough? What if he dropped the quaffle too many time or let the other team score? What if-

"You should eat," Luke said, pulling Albus out of his worries and making him realize that there was a plate of scrambled eggs on the table in front of him.

"Oh, yeah," he said slowly, picking up a fork.

"You'll do fine," Luke said reassuringly, but Albus looked at him.

"What if I'm not good enough against the Slytherin chasers?" he asked, voicing one of his biggest fears.

"Look, Potter, I didn't put you on the team because you're good at, say, Charms or anything like that," Luke said. "You've got talent, Al, even my dad says so, and you're going to do great. Two of the Slytherin chasers are Scorpius Malfoy and that Parkinson Girl, and trust me, I've seen their practices and you'll flatten them."

"Thanks," Albus said, not feeling all that convinced, but better nonetheless.

"Don't worry about it," Luke said. "Now, eat."

After everyone had eaten, they started for the Gryffindor team's changing room. As they crossed the grounds towards the Quidditch pitch a light rain began to fall, dampening the leaf-strewn ground. Albus could now hear the rest of the school entering the stadium, everyone chattering happily about the upcoming match. As the noise above the Changing rooms grew louder and louder, Luke called the team over to him.

"Okay, team," he said as they formed a circle around him, an expression of strong determination on his face. "Conditions aren't that bad, there's a light drizzle but it won't be a major problem at the moment. Anyway, this is it, this is our chance to show them who is going to be winning the cup this year. Just do as well as you have been doing during practices and it'll go fine. Good luck!"

They all waited by the wooden doors leading into the pitch for Professor Wood's signal. Mia turned to Albus.

"Ready?" she asked, trying to look like she wasn't nervous. Albus nodded, and for a split second he remembered his father telling him about his first quidditch match. Oliver Wood had said exactly the same thing to Harry before they took off into the sky.

Albus scrunched his face up in determination; he was going to help his team win, to show all of those Slytherins, who had taunted him in the past week because he was only a first year, that he wasn't just on the team because he was Harry Potter's son. He squeezed her hand encouragingly, and felt it shake with fear.

Luke signaled for them to mount their brooms, and they did just as the doors were opened.

Mia's brother Will, who was the commentator, announced them as they flew into the pitch to loud cheers from the Gryffindor side. The rain was now falling like needles relentlessly, and Albus could see umbrellas and hoods pulled over heads all around the stands.

From the opposite side of the pitch came the Slytherin team in their silver and green robes. The two teams faced each other in midair as Professor Wood flew up in between them. The Slytherin seeker, a burly fifth year named Derek Lee was glaring at Mia, who glared right back, not allowing herself to let him scare her. Albus couldn't believe the looks he was receiving from the Slytherin team's players; it seems that the old rivalry still hadn't died out. Professor Wood informed the two teams that he wanted a nice clean match, before he flew to the ground and landed next to the trunk. He unlocked it and the two bludgers zoomed straight up into the air, Albus, Thomas, and Mia all got a split second glimpse of the tiny golden snitch before it disappeared from sight. Wood then picked up the and tossed it into the air.

"The bludgers, snitch, and quaffle are released," Will announced. "And the game begins!"

Albus flew forward to grab the quaffle, and he nearly dropped it because it was wet and very slippery from the rain, but he caught it and tucked under his arm before speeding down the pitch. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a Slytherin chaser right behind him, but just as he grabbed for the ball Albus tossed it to Ianto, the other chaser.

"Gryffindor chaser Albus Potter throws to Ianto Jones," Will announced loudly into the megaphone. "No, intercepted by Slytherin chaser Bellatrix Parkinson. Wait! Scorpius Malfoy steals the quaffle and Parkinson is hit by a bludger."

The Gryffindor stands booed loudly as Scorpius raced across the pitch with the quaffle.

"Malfoy passes to Parkinson, pass to Nott, back to Malfoy," George said as the ball was thrown around. "Malfoy dodges a bludger hit by Daniel Land, he shoots- scores! Ten-zero, to Slytherin! Will groaned. Slytherin in possession-"

The rain grew stronger as Albus raced across the pitch, but he could still see. He was nearly hit by a bludger, but Luke beat it back and sped away.

"Potter steals the quaffle. No! Intercepted by Serena Zeller , Slytherin back in possession," Will said. "Zeller is racing across the field, dodges a bludger, shoots! Yes! Spectacular save by keeper James Potter!"

Albus caught sight of Mia flying above them, her eyes focused, searching for the snitch. As the match went on, Slytherin scored twice, but between The three Gryffindor Chasers, the score was sixty-thirty, to Gryffindor about half an hour in. By then, it was pouring, and Albus was soaked, his jet black hair plastered to his face and his glasses sliding constantly down his nose .

"Gryffindor in possession, Potter passes to Thomas Johnson; pass to Jones, caught by Potter, Malfoy steals the quaffle, oh! He dropped it! Yes! Back to Potter," Will called over the cheers and yells from the stands. "Potter scores! Seventy-thirty, to Gryffindor."

But the Slytherin team was not going to let this slide, they began playing roughly, nearly knocking Scorpius off of his broom twice, and doing just about anything to score.

"No! Slytherin scores again,"Will announced about twenty minutes later. "Ninety-seventy, to Slytherin. Gryffindor back in possession!"

Albus scored and the Gryffindor stands suddenly exploded with cheers and Albus turned his head to see Mia racing at incredible speed across the pitch, the Slytherin seeker right behind her.

"Go, Mia!" Albus yelled, and he too could see the tiny golden ball on the opposite side of the pitch. Scorpius just ducked out of the way of a bludger, which a Slytherin beater raced towards, ready to hit it at Rose so Derek Lee could catch the snitch instead.

At that moment, chaos reigned. Scorpius raced in front of the beater as he was about to hit the bludger, and, confused, he missed the ball and collided into Scorpius. His beaters club went flying and hit Albus in the face, and he had to catch his broken glasses while he tried to figure out what was going on. The second beater smacked the bludger at Mia as she was feet from the snitch; it smashed into her arm and she flew forwards off of her broom. But the confusion was added to by the stands erupting into cheers and shouts as everyone saw Mia close her hand around the tiny golden ball with her uninjured arm right before she hit the soaked and muddy ground. The whistle blew and the two teams landed on the ground in complete confusion. Scorpius had been punched in the stomach by the beater who flew into him, and he landed on the ground, clutching his chest and trying to catch his breath. Albus, who couldn't see anything clearly between his glasses being broken and the torrential downpour, walked into James, who grabbed Albus' shoulders and guided him to the rest of the team, who were standing around an unconscious Mia, the small golden snitch still clutched in her hand. Luke and Professor Wood lifted her up and James placed the snitch back into the crate just as Will was announcing the results.

"Gryffindor wins! Gryffindor wins! Two hundred and twenty - ninety, to Gryffindor!"

Inside the hospital wing, the elderly nurse Madam Pomfrey was not pleased.

"This game is becoming much too violent," she said as she repaired Albus' broken glasses and made him sit down as he put them on. "You've got quite a nasty bruise on your forehead, Potter, but I'll deal with you after I fix up Mr. Malfoy and Miss. Jordan bell."

She walked over to Mia, who was still out cold and soaking wet, lying on the bed. Madam Pomfrey examined her limp arm.

"Broken in three places," she said softly. "And she must have hit her head when she fell."

She quickly healed Mia's arm and turned to Scorpius, who was still clutching his chest as if it was falling apart.

"Broken ribs," she concluded after barely looking where the beater had punched him. "Simple enough to fix. Stop Moaning, Mr. Malfoy"


	10. Chapter 10

Back in the Gryffindor common room, the entire Quidditch team were huddled around the fire, trying to dry off as best they could. The light drizzle had transformed rather quickly into a full blown thunderstorm as they were walking back to the castle, and so they were the wettest people in the common room.

Albus, Thomas and Mia were all squashed into the one cosy crimson armchair, shivering despite the warmth of the blazing fire in front of them. Mia seemed to be shivering the most, thought Albus, feeling her shake alarmingly beside him.

He hoped she wasn't ill. It was Halloween tomorrow, and the trio were planning to sneak into Hogsmede under Mia's invisibility cloak. James and his friends were planning to go as well, only under his father's invisibility cloak. However, Albus had one clear advantage when it came to sneaking out of the castle unnoticed. He had inherited the Marauders' Map, which had secret tunnels and passages marked on it. He had heard from Harry that most were caved in or had been sealed off during the time of the war, but just one remained.

When aunt Hermione went back to Hogwarts to complete her seventh year, she had managed to somehow re-open the passage that lead right into the cellar of Honeydukes. Albus, James and Rose had all been told when they got their Hogwarts letters that it must only be used in real emergencies. Uncle Ron had winked at them when he had told them this, saying that if they ever had a craving for some sweets or stuff from George's Hogsmede shop, which was an emergency enough.

Albus noticed that Mia had stopped shivering. He turned his head a little and saw that she was sleeping deeply. He sat there, thinking, with Mia asleep on his shoulder and Thomas daydreaming. He nudged Thomas and said

"Want to sneak down to the kitchens?" The house elves would be more than happy to give the Quidditch team some Butterbeer. Mia looks like she needs it"

"Sneak into the Kitchens?" He replied, straightening up. "Are we allowed?"

"Well, I think all we have to do in tickle the pear on the door" Albus responded. "My uncle George told me how"

"No, no" Thomas said with a little frustration in his voice. "I know about the pear, Jess does it all the time. I mean, aren't the kitchens in the dungeons?"

"Nah, they're in the basement, near where the Hufflepuffs are"

"OK then" Thomas said finally, sighing deeply as he stood up. But let's use the cloak. We don't know who could be lurking around."

Thomas ran upstairs to the dormitory to get his schoolbag. Albus gently shook Mia awake , whispering to her, so that they couldn't be heard.

"Mia, Thomas and I are going to get you and the Quidditch team some Butterbeer from the kitchens. Do you want to come with us"

"Yeah!" she responded enthusiastically. But Albus couldn't help notice her slightly gravelly voice and the fact that she coughed every thirty seconds.

Mia stood up quickly, staggering and swaying a little.

"All set!" Thomas had appeared at the top of the spiral staircase and was running down it, carrying Albus's Map in his pocket, Mia's cloak over his arm and his schoolbag on his back.

"Let's go!" whispered Mia excitedly. And so the trio made their way out of the portrait hole and down the corridor. When they were out of sight of the portrait hole, they swung the cloak over their heads and became invisible instantly.

They crept awkwardly along the corridor, treading on each other's feet as they stumbled down the stairs. They passed Rose Weasley and Albus took this as an opportunity to scare his cousin. He put his face close to hers and hissed loudly. Rose screamed, jumped into the air and promptly dropped her book. Albus, Thomas and Mia sniggered silently as they climbed down yet another wide, sweeping staircase.

When they reached basement level, Albus took off the invisibility cloak and crept cautiously towards the painting on the kitchen door.

"Here it is!" said Albus, raking back his dark brown fringe out of his eyes and pointing at the pear.

"Ooh! Can I tickle it?" asked Mia excitedly, rushing over to the door and leaving Thomas to stand in the corridor with the invisibility cloak draped over one shoulder and his eyes blinking in surprise.

"Yeah, go ahead." replied Albus, stepping to the side to let Mia open the door. But before she had even touched the pear, however, she Albus and Thomas heard a strange noise from behind it.

Bemused, all three of them pressed their ears against the door and listened intently.

"Don't want to be bad…..wish I wasn't even in Slytherin!"

Perplexed, Thomas whispered "A Slytherin's crying! Who is it?"

"I'm not bad! …. Want to go home!"

"I think it's Scorpius! Albus whispered. Let's go in,"

Mia, being the tallest, easily reached the pear. She tickled it gently until it began to giggle. "Ha! That has got to be the weirdest thing I have ever seen" Mia said quietly. "A laughing pear!"

Suddenly, the kitchen door swung open. A strange sight met their eyes. For one thing, it was hard to distinguish the person through the sea of tiny green house-elves, and by the time they caught sight of them, Albus, Thomas and Mia were shocked . Scorpius Malfoy was sitting on the floor, shaking violently and crying loudly

He hadn't seemed to have noticed them enter, but the house elf next to him looked up. "Mr Potter!" shrieked the elf, leaving Scorpius and running over to Albus.

"Winkie!" Said Albus, grinning from ear to ear. "How's things? Feeling well?"

"Winkie is doing fine Mr Potter, thank you for asking! Although Wanda's Master Scorpius is feeling very sad indeed." Winkie pointed to a tiny house elf over by the blackened and rusty stove. She was very pale, with a large pointed nose, enormous purple eyes and had ears that reached almost down to her waist. Albus reckoned that they would look big on an elephant.

"Hello, young masters and miss!" Squeaked the house elf excitedly. "Wanda is sorry about the state of our kitchens, but we is preparing food for the Halloween feast and Master Scorpius is needing to be looked after."

Scorpius was now staring at the trio, clearly embarrassed.

"What are you looking at? I only came down here to ask my house elf for some 's your excuse?"

"I only came down here to ask my house elf for some Butterbeer" Albus replied, walking over to Scorpius and sitting down beside him.

"Oh, ok then" Scorpius said, clearly upset.

"What's wrong? Has Bellatrix been mean to you again?" Asked Thomas gently.

"Yeah, now she's having a go about how I'm not bad enough to be a Slytherin. Why would I want to be bad? I mean, all it gets you is trouble and detention."

"You could stick with us, if you want..."

"I can't do that!

Scorpius looked even paler in the half-light, and his silvery-grey eyes were misty with unshed tears.

"Well, you can have some butterbeer at least" said Mia firmly, pulling Scorpius up into a standing position and handing him a bottle. "Come on, let's go up to the common room and we can talk to Bellatrix".

And with that, Scorpius reluctantly followed Albus, Thomas and Mia out of the Kitchens and up the stairs.


End file.
